Barry Clarkson (1951 - 2023): popular birder who had a knack for finding rarities on his Lincolnshire coastal patch

 

Barry managed to secure these definitive shots of Lincolnshire's Pacific swift in 2013

THE New Year has started on a sad note with the news that popular  Lincolnshire birder Barry Hancock died on the night of December 25.

It was Barry and his longtime friend, Mike Tarrant, who, in May 2002, discovered at Rimac, near Louth, a lesser sand plover - only the second for Britain.

Other notable discoveries on his home patch  were  a  red-breasted Goose at Covenham Reservoir (October 1978), a Cory’s Shearwater at Saltfleetby (August 1985 ) and a Pacific swift at Saltfleet Haven (June 2013) - all first records for Lincolnshire.

In his finder's report of the last of these, Barry wrote:  "As I watched a movement of common swifts and housemartins, my attention was caught by a larger, more rakish swift with an unmissable gleaming white rump.

"The flight was more gliding, lacking that quick flicky action of common swift. 

"As I checked the tail, it was noticeably long and deeply forked but also more substantial than common swift, with the  white of the rum gripping the rear flanks, a feature very easy to see."

"At the time, the Pacific swift was only the seventh record for Britain."

Barry  leaves his twin brother, Alan, and sisters Julia, Sue and Joyce who all live in the Louth area.

Writing in this month's edition of the Lincolnshire Bird Club's newsletter, The Heron, LBC chairman Phil Espin writes: "Barry could be a shy person but he was always happy to share his knowledge with less  experienced birders who were grateful for his insights.

"The thoughts and condolences of the Lincolnshire birding community are with Barry’s family and with his best mate, Mike."

This study of the lesser sand plover at Rimac is featured in  Twitching by Numbers, a book by frontline birder Garry Bagnell who describes it as his "most important bird of 2002"